Tuesday, August 11, 2009

How to succeed by being lazy

How many times have you said "if I only had the time…"? Don't you just feel like a slacker? You don't? You feel tired, burned out and frantic all at once? You just feel too busy to be lazy, right? So why aren't you succeeding?

'Cause you're not lazy, that's why... At least, not in ways that matter…

Don't do more than you have to

If you're painting a picture and you just keep adding color after color after color, you know what? It turns muddy. It loses its value. There comes a time to stop.

There's got to be an easier way

Ask yourself, "Can I still get what I want in some easier way?" Sometimes the road you're on is just too long, and there are shortcuts everywhere. Find them.

Get more for less

A string of smaller successes can really add up over time, and take you farther than bigger success. If you do one "something" to get back three things, you'll have more than five "somethings" only getting you back ten.

Do I really need it?

Yeah, do you? Sure you may want it badly… but for how long? Take a closer look at it. Do without it for just a bit longer. If you don't really miss it, you can save time by not pursuing it.

Don't do all that "stuff"

We really have so much time on our hands, we really do. We just fill it in with so much "stuff" It actually takes a lot of work to be lazy enough to come up with solutions, but in the end, it gives you back enough time to get the really important stuff done.

Just get there

Results matter; not how much it took to get there. The one who comes in last can do just as much work as the one who comes in first. Success has a lot of other factors besides how much effort you put into it.

Now I'm not implying that you should cheat. Lazy people shouldn't cheat. That's just more "stuff" you don't need. What I'm saying is that you don't have to work so hard at getting success; you have to become lazy enough to let it happen.